THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION MECHANISM OF DALIAN URBAN SPATIAL STRUCTURE

Dalian urban space came into being on the costal plain in1898, when Russia invaded and occupied it and planned it according to its function of commercial port. At that time, the urban space was divided into three areas including administrative area, European area and Chinese area. In 1905, Japan drove Russia out of Dalian and began its 40 years' occupation. Japan planned Dalian as an industrial city and extended the urban space. The land in the eastern part was used for business and housing, and the western part was used for in-dustry and housing. Then in the 1930s, Japan planned to extend the city area. In the plan, Bridge Qingniwa was the urban center and many places around the area would be developed, and many small city cores, in-cluding industrial areas, housing areas for the poor and areas for tourism and convalescence, would be estab-lished. From the end of Word War II to the beginning of opening up and reform of China, Dalian was devel-oped into a complete industrial city, with all kinds of industrial areas distributed in the urban space. The plan made in the 1980s in order to plan the urban space scientifically, give a good guidance for the development of Dalian. Suburbanization began to appear when many industries moved out of the city and many new housing areas were set up in the suburb. During this period, the spatial structure showed the characteristics of circle layers. With the extending of the urban area and the strengthening of the contacting between Dalian, Lvshun, Jinzhou and the development zone, the four areas formed clusters in the 1990s, with each area having its own main functions. The factors influencing the form and evolution of Dalian urban space include environmental factors, political factors, economic factors and social factors. Different city positioning in different periods de-cides the main function of the city which needs different urban spatial structures. Political systems and poli-cies have a great impact on the economy and people's life, which in turn will lead to the change of the urban space. Different planning philosophy also influences the urban spatial structure. Economic factors are the in-ternal driving force of the change of the spatial structure, which have played an increasingly great role. The e-conomy development results the extending of the urban space directly, while the upgrading of the industrial structure brings about the change of the spatial structure. Social factors, including non-government organiza-tions and citizens, whose benefits can be affected by the change of spatial structure, should be considered.